Access twenty commonly taught themes for classic literature and discussion questions around that theme. Choose a Lexile grade level for reading and download the text in PDF format. Each text has critical thinking questions created by CommonLit. All of this for free! What else could one want? Well, you can also request a text, and they will negotiate with the copyright holders to have that text on their site.

In the Classroom

CommonLit is an excellent resource for literature teachers, speech and debate teachers, and history teachers. Share the site with students on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and ask the class what themes they would like to investigate. Under each theme are two questions. Divide the class into small groups with each group investigating one of the questions for one of the themes and reading the accompanying text. Differentiate for students by having students read on the same theme, but at their reading level. Challenge individuals, pairs, or small groups to create a graphic organizer for the story they read using a tool like Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers, reviewed here. This site would also work when you have to make substitute plans unexpectedly. Just put the link in your plans and tell the sub what theme you want students to read about, or better yet, let the sub choose!

Digital Citizenship offers a large number of resources for teaching digital citizenship for students of all ages, teachers, and parents. Choose from primary, secondary, or parents to begin. Each section includes videos, games, and activities for learning responsible digital citizenship. The site was created in Australia. American English speakers may notice some slight differences in spellings and pronunciations. The videos reside on sites other than Digital Citizenship. Some are on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Bookmark Digital Citizenship for use in any Internet safety lesson or unit. Create a link to individual games or activities on classroom computers. Be sure to share a link to this site with parents for use at home.

Use Legos as learning tools with these great lesson plans and activities for several different topics. Learn about chemical reactions, photosynthesis, symmetry, and the Nile River through the use of Legos. In addition to lesson plans, many activities include worksheets and printables to support the learning activities. Just look down the middle of the landing page to find the topic you want. Although this site does have many distracting advertisements, the activities are worth exploring.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use ideas from this site to create learning centers or as a start for group projects. Include ideas from this site on your class webpage for students to complete at home. Have students upload a photo of a finished project and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Superlame, reviewed here.

Make a collage of your images into a variety of shapes. Download the free program for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and iPad. Drag images into the window and choose the collage shape (heart, characters, animals, and more) or create and customize your own shape. Collages do not show the company watermark, and you can export them to Photoshop. Follow the demo video for tips and tricks.

In the Classroom

Use Shape Collage to take a variety of images to make a collage. Use this tool to create pages of class memories for the end of the year and create yearbook type effects easily. Since you can create and customize the shapes, this would be a great tool to represent a theme for any story, novel, or unit of study.

Find ready to use standards-based lessons that teach digital citizenship for grades 4-8. Lesson topics include Communication and Collaboration, Digital Citizenship, Privacy, Media Literacy, Cyberbullying, Copyright, and Information Literacy. Integrate these digital citizenship lessons into the content area subjects, ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Most lessons start with a video for the adult and also have a video for the student. Download videos in a variety of formats (mp4, WMV, MOV) or copy the link provided. The Media Literacy lessons have several examples of advertisement videos that use YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube. Under Tools and Resources find a professional development webinar that hosts a middle school teacher discussing digital citizenship.

In the Classroom

At the beginning of the year, use the lessons included as a basis for developing a school digital citizenship program or even use with your own class. Use at a parents' informational night to describe the type of lessons that help address responsible digital citizens. Post a link on your class website for parents to view at home. Create a school mission statement regarding technology use or rules for technology. When doing research projects, be sure to review.

Comments

This is an articulate and smart program. The videos and materials support the three strands of digital citizenship: safety and security; literacy; and ethical and responsible use.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

Never leave your easy chair as you journey beyond the road to far away places using Google Maps Treks! Choose Gombe National Park, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Colorado River, or the polar bears at Churchill. Tour Taj Mahal, Venice, Galapagos Islands, Eiffel Tower, Mt. Fuji, Everest, Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon Basin, and more. Click on the option and then click the open in Maps or Views button. On maps with multiple placemarks, click the placemark to view information about the location, and then click the title to go to the map. Choose from a variety of images taken at various locations found along the bottom. Some images are photospheres and can be manipulated using the sphere icon along the bottom right. Use the arrows in the sphere to rotate the image, giving a panoramic view of the location as you click. Use the familiar Google map tools to zoom in and out. Some Treks offer short videos that are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. View these different places whether your content includes history, geography, literature, science, languages, and more. View places discussed in class, or in stories. Look at different cultural areas or environments in the world. Choose a trek as an inspiration for further research about the area, the inspiration for a student created poem or short story, artistic work, and many other projects. Encourage student groups to choose one of the places on this site to present to the class, highlighting various economic, recreational, historical, and cultural factors at each place. You may want students to use a tool such as Knoema, reviewed here, or Data - The World Bank, reviewed here, to make sure students get accurate information. Use this as a class "Where I visited in Google Maps" project! As students ask questions about the various places, encourage discovery in finding the answers together.

Comments

Can't wait to use this after the Lit Trip session.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

Easily record and share audio with Clyp. You can use Clyp on a web browser or as an app from the Apple store or Google Play. You have two options when creating your file. You can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Start Recording" button and use the microphone on your computer to record a message. You can also upload an audio file from your computer. Use the social network links to share via Facebook, Twitter, email, and more. To save your file, create an account using your Facebook profile or email. Account creation allows you to manage Clyps across devices, make files private, and disable downloads. Caution: This site is open to the public and anyone can post material (title and songs) that may not be appropriate in a classroom. We do NOT recommend allowing students of any age to explore the already created content on this site.

In the Classroom

When using this site in the classroom in any capacity, we highly recommend providing the direct link to your created material (or your students). This will limit students' exposure to questionable songs on the homepage. Record snippets of information as reminders on your class website or instructions for students to follow. This is terrific for learning support students or non-readers! Have students describe aspects of classroom learning experiences to share with others, such as what they learned from a science experiment or found out about life in Colonial America. Record a quick message for an absentee student and email the link to him/her explaining how to catch up on missing work. Create tutorial pieces that students can use as study aids (or have them create them for each other). Use this site in world language classes or for ESL/ELL students: have students record and listen to their own pronunciation or send short messages to each other to translate. Have students use this site to practice speeches before the presentation to hear their speed, tone, and words. Use this site for research presentations, instructions for a substitute, or many other possibilities. With younger students, read a short story on Clyp, and have students follow along using a picture book. Alternatively have the students read their own stories into Clyp and email the readings to their parents! For Mothers Day, why not have students record messages for mom or grandma? Another idea: Create a class wiki where parents can "find" the entire selection of Clyps for Mother's Day (or another holiday). Record Clyps of each student talking about the importance of Moms for Mother's Day or how grateful they are for certain things at Thanksgiving. Embed them all in a class wiki to share with parents. Just email the URL for the collection. Again, be sure to provide direct links to the students' Clyps.

Relax and enjoy calming images and sounds with Calm. Choose from soothing images such as gentle raindrops, beaches, or mountains with accompanying soft sounds. Mute sounds if desired to enjoy relaxing images on their own. Set a timer for 2 through 20 minutes to take it all in. Enjoy this fabulous tool for lowering your stress or refocusing anytime throughout the day!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Calm to settle students down after activities or during transition times. Use it to relax them before "big tests." This site may be perfect for those students that need a little quiet time in their daily routine. Use this site with any student who may need some quiet time between transitions. Share this site to use with students while studying. They could study for 15 minutes (or longer, depending on the age) and "earn" relaxation time. If students feel stressed out about a project, try starting with some short relaxation time to calm the nerves. Use this site for yourself: relaxing, destressing, and enjoying life for a few minutes. Use this tool during a unit in study skills to talk about ways to refocus as you study. There is great value in incubation time before actually launching into a new project or creative challenge, and this tool can help!

Markup and discuss images online with Marqueed. Drag and drop images from your computer or browser window, or even clip a web page, add collaborators, and then begin discussing. Follow the progress of all the discussions using the activity stream and receive instant email notification of new additions.

In the Classroom

Use Marqueed in science class for students to identify parts of plants, features of landforms, or astronomical items such as comets and stars. Upload a map image and have students collaborate to locate items of interest. Upload groups of images for students to compare and contrast, share with students for use on group projects, or add images from different time periods for use in history class. World language teachers can have students label images for assessment, and ESL/ELL students can use this for practicing vocabulary words. The possibilities are endless!

Edusight is an online grade book for K-12 teachers with features for capturing grades and comments easily and powerful analytics for viewing and sharing data. Edusight features "buckets" for organizing information. Create buckets for tests, quizzes, group work, or any label you desire. Watch the site's Video Walkthrough for an overview of available features. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Share Edusight information with parents as part of your ongoing communication process. Use Edusight to collect and gather information for IEP and other intervention and data collection meetings. Track student behavior for positive reinforcement or discipline purposes. This versatile tool has many possibilities.

YouTube EDU features some of the most popular educational videos across YouTube. Explore both elementary and secondary topics. This channel integrates content across 100 colleges and universities and offers access to campus tours, research, and lectures. Scroll through to find videos sorted into many categories such as science, mathematics, arts, languages, and much more. Subscribe to receive updates about new videos added. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

Choosing color schemes for web pages, projects, and displays becomes easier with Color Schemer! Click on any color in the color bar at the bottom of the page to view a display of compatible colors along with hex and font color numbers for HTML use. Choose "lighten scheme" or "darken scheme" to adjust and personalize colors as desired.

In the Classroom

After sharing and teaching students how to use this resource, create a link to the Color Schemer on your class web page for student use with projects, displays, and more. Share with your school's art teacher as an excellent resource for artwork.

Create music using Soundtrap's virtual instruments or use your own. Collaborate to create music with others. Blend your tracks together using the Soundtrap editor. There are video tutorials to help you develop your track. Download your music as MP3 files. You can save five projects at a time. This tool will work with the Chrome web browser, iOS, and Android devices. Though the videos open in this program, they are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Demonstrate how to use Soundtrap with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students use Soundtrap for multimedia and group projects. See the many TeachersFirst multimedia Edge tools reviewed here. In a music class have students use this tool when they are practicing so they can hear how they sound. They could also use Soundtrap as a group to experiment and combine sounds and hear the results. Drama classes can create music for the background of their play. Share this link on your class website for families to explore at home.

Quickly convert, share, and manage documents with Cometdocs. Upload any file from your computer then choose from options to convert, transfer, share, or host the file. Options or file conversions include to and from PDF, Word, Excel, image, and text formats. Create a free account to receive up to 2 GB in storage, upload files up to 150 MB, perform up to 5 conversions per week. Other options include downloading web and iOS apps for use. Login isn't necessary to do simple file conversions but is required for storage and hosting of files.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Did you ever find really neat activity sheets, but they need to be tweaked a little to make them work for your classes? This tool helps you save time by allowing you to edit PDF files in Word to avoid reinventing the wheel. (Beware of copyrighted materials, however). Science teachers can take lab activities and refine questions or add instructions as needed for their classrooms. English teachers can add standardized test prompts to preexisting general worksheets to tailor the activity to suit their state's test needs. This is a helpful utility for students entering contests or completing applications offered only in specific formats. Use sharing and storage options to create quick access to all documents for any unit or lesson.

Find out instantly if the problem you are having opening a web site is YOUR problem or a website that is down. Is It Down Right Now (iidrn.com for short) instantly "pings" a site so you can tell whether the site is down for everyone or just for you (perhaps due to a glitch with your Internet provider). The Internet is never a sure thing, but this tool tells you whether it's just YOU having trouble. Although it sounds geeky, it's easy. Copy/paste or type the URL you are trying to reach into the box at top right, and click "Check." The results tell you how long it takes for the site to respond and how long it has been down (if it is). What a handy tool for ANYONE using the web! What this tool will not tell you is if you are mistyping the URL, so always double check.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Mark this one in your Favorites and remind your student to use it before they call out, "The page isn't opening!" in the middle of class. Make it one of the required tools as part of "ask three before me." If you have a class web page, this is a handy way to find out if your web page service (or district-provided web page server) is having trouble "serving up" the class page. Tell savvy students who are unable to access web sites to use this tool and take a screen shot of the results if a site assigned for homework is "down" for prolonged periods. This is simple "proof" worthy of a get-out-of-homework-free card if they can show that the site was down for three hours on the night of the assignment!

Create, publish, and download personalized maps with Click2Map. With just a few clicks add points of interest with display markers featuring text, photos, and videos. Add lines or polygons to outline or highlight geographic areas. Browse through sample maps to find popular uses for Click2Map. When ready to create a map use the toolbar to add items and save for sharing. No registration required, but registering is free and allows you to save maps you create. Click2Map works on all devices.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Have students create place marker files of the significant places in the life of a famous person or the route traveled by a particular unit during the Civil War. Have student groups create place marker files to show environmental sites, habitats, landforms, or anything you can put on a map. In math class have students compare routes between different locations.

Learn about the early years of air transportation through the jet age using this site from the Smithsonian. Click the interactive map to see what it was like to fly across America (from New York to San Francisco) in the early 1920s through to the present. Click Objects and Images to read an explanation of the earliest to newest planes, mail carrier uniforms, and documents. Find thirteen interactive activities that range from appropriately dressing pilots to purchasing airline tickets based on particular criteria. Use your math skills and the airline price meter activity to learn about the costs of a ticket.

In the Classroom

This site will work well in any social studies or math class. Have groups of students use the airline price meter activity to try and buy a ticket for $300. Then have students use computers and visit a travel site and see if they can replicate the activity for real. Using the "At Your Service Section" have your students create 1950s style airline ad posters. Use the baggage claim activity to talk about scales and weight. Bring in some empty suitcases and let students fill them up and try to guess the weight. In language arts or social studies classes use a projector or interactive whiteboard and read a few entries from the Stories section with your students. Ask students to write about a flight they remember (or any mode of transportation for a trip) in the same manner as the examples. In addition, language arts or social studies teachers can use this site's nonfiction reading to help satisfy student's reading goals for the Common Core Standards.

Cyberbullying: How to Make it Stop is a short article addressing the ongoing issue of cyberbullying. Information includes defining cyberbullying, how to recognize signs of bullying, how to involve parents, and what schools can do. Be sure to check out the list of five websites teachers should watch out for that offer breeding grounds for cyberbullying. Print or email the article using the links on the page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Share this article with parents on your class web page or email using the email link. Print and share the article as part of your class discussion of Internet safety and digital citizenship. Share this article with other staff members, including school counselors as part of your Internet safety discussion.

I'd like to introduce you to Ben Franklin! Interview Ben Franklin online through a video response format. Choose your skill level, and select from a list of questions what you would like to ask. Ben Franklin reads your question and answers in a video as if he is talking directly to you!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Introduce your class to Ben Franklin on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Enrich your science unit on electricity, your social studies history lesson, or use as a way to introduce taking notes from multimedia. Use as an example for a project in which students choose famous people and follow the interview style demonstrated. After researching, making questions, creating props and costumes, use Rawshorts, reviewed here, and create famous people video interviews with your students. Share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here, or post them on your class webpage or blog. Be sure to include this resource in your unit on leadership or heroes.

Optimum Community, part of Cablevision, tries to connect, engage, and empower people in their communities. Charity Champions organize schools and communities to engage in volunteerism in charities promoting leadership and stewardship. The Past Winners section shows an activity plan and portfolios of previous winners. The section Digital Smarts includes a blog, online tools, and resources that encourage safe use of technology. The participating areas of New Jersey, Greater Hudson Valley, Long Island, New York City, and Connecticut show events organized to help and educate the community.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In your classroom, look at this site for ways to inspire ideas for stewardship, volunteering, leadership, and for problem-based learning community projects. View the topics from past winners, and examine your community to see what areas of need there are. Gifted classes can find ideas for problem-based learning projects.